Racism in the USA
Louisiana pardons black civil rights activists – after 130 years
Louisiana’s Governor John Bel Edwards signs the pardon for Homer Plessy. Descendants of Plessy and Judge John Howard Ferguson were also present at the ceremony.
© Janet McConnaughey / AP
Homer Plessy’s arrest resulted in one of the most controversial judgments in the history of the American Supreme Court. Now the black civil rights activist has been pardoned posthumously – over a century after his arrest.
Almost 130 years after his arrest and conviction, black civil rights activist Homer Plessy has been pardoned by Louisiana’s Governor John Bel Edwards. Plessy had refused to leave a white railroad car in June 1892 and was subsequently arrested. The then 30-year-old belonged to the Creole civil rights movement Comité des Citoyens and had consciously accepted the arrest in order to take legal action against racial segregation. According to his own statements, Plessy was only one eighth black and could have passed as a white, but was legally regarded as a black.
The subsequent court hearing between Plessy and the presiding judge John Howard Ferguson stretched through several instances up to the Supreme Court. In his argument, Plessy relied on Amendment 13, which includes the abolition of slavery, and Amendment 14 of the American Constitution, which contains an equal treatment clause. However, the Supreme Court ruled 7-1 that racial segregation was not against the United States Constitution. At the same time, the US Supreme Court enshrined the principle of “separate but equal” for half a century. As a result, places in schools, public transport and hotels could only be reserved for whites. It was not until the verdict in the “Brown vs. Board of Education” case that racial segregation was lifted in schools, and with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, racial segregation was legally abolished in the United States.
Homer Plessy’s pardon is possible through 2006 law
Near the spot where Plessy was once arrested, the civil rights activist pardoned John Bel Edwards posthumously. “While the pardon is long overdue, we should also admit that this is a day that originally should never have happened,” said Adams, condemning the events of 1892 in front of descendants of Plessy and Judge Ferguson. The sole purpose of the Supreme Court’s decision was to maintain White’s superiority, no matter how immoral and flawed this judgment was and is. “Homer Plessy’s conviction should never have happened, but justice has no expiration date,” Edwards said. The governor made use of a law passed in Louisiana in 2006 that enables discriminatory judgments to be overturned. Plessy’s pardon is the first to be granted under the law.
Jason Williams, prosecutor for Orleans Parish – the district where Plessy was convicted – also called for a pardon. “While Homer Plessy had committed a crime under the law, it was actually the law that was a crime,” Williams said at the memorial service for Plessy. The trained Schumacher Plessy never returned to his profession after his conviction and died in 1925. However, the families of Plessy and Ferguson grew closer over time. Phoebe Ferguson and Keith Plessy told “CBS News” that they jointly founded the “Plessy & Ferguson Foundation”. The organization advocates education about civil rights and uses the case of its historical namesake time and again.
Sources:CBS News, BBC, Britannica